Darkness Follows
by Dea Thaed
Summary: Fem/ Harry, follows books up to the capture of Hogwarts, minus some details, book six. Voldemort won; Harry and his friends are now on the run, and when they think they've found a way to defeat him their world will be turned upside down.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: so I don't own Harry Potter. That much should be obvious.

Warnings: Please don't flame because you didn't read the warning or the summary. Otherwise I'm happy to hear what you have to think.

Summary: Fem/ Harry, follows books up to the capture of Hogwarts, minus some details, book six. Voldemort won; Harry and his friends are now on the run, and when they think they've found a way to defeat him their world will be turned upside down.

A/N Yes I know I have six other stories in progress right now… but… I just had to. The muse and plot bunny demand it. I hope you guys enjoy this and review… I mean how much harm can one little review do?

Chapter I

Voldemort had won. She knew it could have gone differently; the lives lost, the destruction. Looking back it was a wonder she even made it out alive. She remembered the night.

She had been meeting Dumbledore twice a week after supper to talk. About the war, about Tom Riddle; or yet, the man he used to be. It seemed that it didn't matter what she took from the meetings. Whether she believed something had to have changed Tom Riddle. Tonight was no different, and she was getting tired of it all. She was sitting across from Dumbledore when it happened, and then it was just a warning bell sound that alerted Dumbledore to the invasion, but she didn't know that. She didn't know that her life was to take a drastic turn, one that would set her world on an entirely different axis.

And he had told her it was nothing.

How could it be nothing? He had asked her to wait in his office, and when he returned they would continue on their discussion. She was sick of it, just discussing. Never doing anything to fix the problems, Dumbledore refused to let her do anything, just talking. She had stood up and walked towards the window. Before it had been a soft red glow that had beckoned her towards it, and looking out across the Forbidden forest she knew what it was, and it horrified her.

The Forbidden Forest was lit ablaze. She watched shapes of centaurs running back and forth on the boundaries between the lake and forest trying to put it out. She searched for the small round hut that used to be just outside the forest. Used was the key word. Beyond the flames there was nothing but the smoke. She watched it rise towards the moonlit sky, and she was frozen; her eyes fixed on the green snake wrapped around a skull.

The door opened and she turned ready to confront the headmaster only to be pulled out by her friends. Between hurried whispers and the cries surrounding her, she had finally figured it out, and was numb from it all. Hogwarts had been invaded. They crouched behind a statue as spells flew past them. Only the sounds of explosions could be heard, she couldn't even hear herself think. And she was no use, not right now. She watched a student run by, a Hufflepuff; and she was hit in the side by the killing curse. The girl fell; she must have only been a first year. And forever frozen in that moment, her blank eyes stared at her.

She felt sick.

Hermione grabbed her arm, pulled her behind her as she ran for the entrance hall; the large oak doors splintered opened. She caught snippets here and there.

"…. Shrunk everything…."

"….have to leave…"

"… Protect you…"

They fell down the stone steps as a blast behind them broke the motor and stone. Her face stung, from what she didn't know, but as she looked back she cried. The castle was lit orange and black. Through windows she could make out people running past and color flashes as spells were flying past them. And even though it was through several layers of stone, she could hear the screams. Her home was ablaze, being blasted apart. Rubble fell around her. Dumbledore could stop this. Looking out towards the forest, she could only stare at the confrontation in front of her. She saw people she knew fighting the cloaked figures, people she knew falling to their spells.

And then She found him, in the center of it all was Dumbledore. He stood out with his Purple cloak, but even with it he was the epitome of serious. He danced around the other figure, looking years younger and ten times stronger. He turned to his right and their eyes met; and it was like he aged.

"Get her out of here." Yelled across the expanse of fighting she heard it clearly. But as someone grabbed her arm and tugged she threw it off and broke for it. She dashed through the crowd, ducking under swinging arms and dodging spells aimed for someone else. She was almost with reach of her mentor, she didn't know what she was going to do once she got there but she knew, deep down, that she needed to do something. She couldn't just sit by and not do anything while people she knew were fighting. His eyes widened in panic as she reached for him. His backed was turned and she knew it was her fault now. And it replayed every day; her eyes moved from his and looked past his shoulder as his opponent raised his wand and pointed at the elders back, his opportunity found. A smirk formed over the grotesque face as he shot a final spell. And it hit his target just as she reached him. She wrapped her arms around the older man's middle as he slumped against her, the blood soaking through onto her from the many gashes that formed on his back.

" You need to run…" she shushed him and she stared at the approaching figure. His wand was still raised and he continued to smile at her. He stopped within reach and raised his wand to his throat.

"Dumbledore has fallen!" It was an instant change as those around stopped fighting all looking in their direction with bated breath. Her looked at her his eyes flashing as he lowered his wand.

"And you are nothing to me. You cannot fight me, and you cannot defeat me. I don't need a phony prophesy to dictate me. This is your only chance. Leave!" He grabbed Dumbledore from her, and dropped him unceremoniously on the ground next to him, the older man's breath coming in quick gasps. She stumbled back into her friends, their hands steadying her.

Looking back now, it seems she was meant to live. If not Natalie Potter would not have changed everything.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not in any way own the Harry Potter universe. I do not make any money on anything.

Warning: This is not one of my general Harry Potter fic. It's Fem Harry, and it's just a bit different, with me having no idea where it's going.

A/N I do not know why but I felt like writing today… just not the stories I'm already in the middle of. So let me know what you think.

Chapter II

Natalie sat at the window, a place she usually found herself most days. It was no different from any other day. The London weather was something that made even the happiest person feel all gloom and doom, regardless of the war. Though it could just be the house; this stupid, wretched house. Her hand slammed down onto the dusty window cushion, sending dust into the dim light filtering through the window from the street lamp outside.

It was all lost. They had lost. She had let everyone down, they didn't say it but she could feel the way they looked at her, it made her want to curl her hands into fist and just scream. She was only sixteen, what did they expect her to do? Did they know something about her that she didn't know? How could they expect someone who wasn't trained to defeat someone like Voldemort? It made her mad. And the way they stared at her; like they blamed her. She threw the book she had been holding against one of the book shelves. It fell on its spine, the covers opening. The page the book lay flat and opened to a random page some many chapters from where she had been. She hadn't even been paying attention to it that much. And she left it where it was. She would pick it back up later; she was the only one that dared set foot in the Black library.

She stepped out onto the landing and closed the door. Fred Walked by and smiled grimly at her, her hand was still on the handle but it was like her couldn't see it. As she recalled when they had been trying to clean out this dusty gloomy house Mrs. Weasley had skipped this room. Maybe it wasn't that nobody dared to enter it, maybe they couldn't. It made her wonder, but then again she hated just being here, who cared about a library no one could get into. She walked down the stairs to the kitchen, walking past everyone into the hallway. It surprised them when she had chosen the basement as her room, but it made her feel calm. She closed the door behind her and walked down the narrow set of stairs. The second reason why she picked this place was because no one came down here either.

But that had more to do with this being where Kreacher put everything they had tried getting rid of, because it was 'dark'. And she didn't know if she agreed with them. She had arranged the couple of rooms down here with everything that had been put down here. Kreacher had helped. He didn't seem to hate her as much as he had the year before; she had no idea why, but he helped her when she needed it. She sat on a couch that had once been in the sitting room, it was a deep ruby red that had went amazingly with the dark stained wood in that room. It had been replaced with an old multicolored… thing. She wasn't even sure it could be called a couch. It fit down here too; albeit a little odd. The floor was a black stone that had some rugs that had also been moved down here. The one in this room was another black one. She felt the couch conform to her wants, something comfortable to surround her so she could think of anything else. Maybe that's why it was considered dark, because it knew what someone wanted. Or maybe Mrs. Weasley and the others had just hated it. She quiet liked it. She rested her head against the back and closed her eyes for a moment.

"Is Miss wanting something to eat? The loud blood traitor is complaining about yous missing the meal."

Natalie straightened up and blinked a few times at the ancient elf.

"Sorry Kreacher, I was asleep. But I'm not all that hungry." He stared at her a moment before nodding and popping away. She had gotten used to his way with other people, but really why he had been nice to her as she was a half blood? That also puzzled her. But as she stretched she didn't much care. He was someone that was there but didn't bug her, or look at her like she had done something wrong. She walked into another room that she hadn't really changed she had moved down here. There were a couple of cauldrons and enough ingredients to supply her own apothecary for years. Snape had used this room, probably for the same reason she had, the peace and quiet. He had left a lot in this room. A couple journals, the potions class books, and a couple others besides that. Since they had come here a couple months ago she had been re-teaching herself from first year material. She still was having a hard time with the material. She understood it well enough, but it seemed she just couldn't get it to stick.

She pulled the second year's book down and opened it to the last place she had been, working through the cure for boils. She must have been working for a couple of hours; she wanted to get it just right. When she was done she put it in a vial and placed it on a shelf with the potions she had finished. The ones Snape had made were in a cupboard across from the table. She didn't want to put her less than adequate potions with his; he was a potions master after all.

She left the room and before going into the bedroom she looked out into the main room and noticed it. Sitting on the coffee table was a tray with some soup and a sandwich. She smiled to herself, admitting now that she was a little hungry. When she finished the meal Kreacher popped in and gathers the tray. She thanked him and smiled, before going into the bathroom to wash the grease from brewing from her hair. As she stripped she remembered cho, the girl had liked her. At first she had thought she had just liked her as a friend. But then cho had kissed her. It had been nice, but not her thing. The girl had also been crying when she had tried to kiss her. She climbed into the steam of the shower and washed her hair and body. She stood under the spray once she was clean and just let it run down her skin. And she cried. This was also something she did most days; for the first month she hadn't been able to. But after noticing the stares and finally understanding that they blamed her for the fall of Dumbledore; that if she hadn't rushed off to the ministry her god father would still be alive; after the first month she couldn't it anymore and broke down. But it hadn't made her feel better. Everything had been her fault. And she knew that now.

She stood in front of the mirror. What had Cho seen in her anyway? She was only about 5.6, too thin, scarred and couldn't do anything right. Her curly red hair hung down to her shoulders. Most days she kept it up. But it was as untamed as her fathers. Sometimes she wished she had gotten her mother's smoother hair, though she could have done without the red. It gave Mrs. Weasley more of an excuse to treat her like a child. And she hated it. She toweled off her legs, they were slim, but firm. It seemed to be one of things that appealed most to everyone at Hogwarts. Or so she thought. The rest of her was just as slim. She had a tall abdomen, and to her, average breasts. She shook her head as she wrapped the towel around her waist, walking out into main room, opening the third door in the basement; her room. It was also dark colored stone, for one difference the rug covering part of the room was a dark green and the black covered double bed. It was large enough to fit at least three persons of her size, and it was both soft and firm. It was great for her, and she preferred it to any other bed she had slept in.

She unwrapped her towel and threw it in the basket and drank the dreamless sleep she kept next to the bed. As she slipped under the covers she just wished that after everything that had happened the last couple months she just wished she could get one peaceful night's sleep.

Severus Snape sat staring at the glass of wine in front of him. The blood red color mesmerized him. He raised it to his lips and took a sip, savoring the flavor. Lowering the glass he gazed into the fire. He wished he could have changed things. In the beginning it had all been right, but now it was all falling apart. It hadn't been about blood purity in the beginning. He had joined for a cause, now it was something different. He didn't know where things had changed but in the back of his head he keeps the hope that things will go back to the way they were. There was a knock at his quarters; he knocked back the rest of his wine before standing to answer.

When Voldemort had taken charge of Hogwarts he had captured Dumbledore and left him in charge. The first thing he had done was dismiss the students. The teachers on Dumbledore's side had left to go into hiding with the rest of the order. The others had stayed. He pulled open the door and nodded his head at the women behind the door.

"Bellatrix, please come in."

She sat in the chair next to end table and helped herself to a glass of the wine he had been drinking. He sat back in his chair by the fire and poured himself another glass. They sat in silence for a few moments, both gazing into the fire. I was only after they had both finished their first glass and had refilled that she spoke.

"Lucius has escaped from Azkaban."

When Natalie woke up, she walked up the stairs to the library. Walking over to the book she had thrown she picked it up and read the title of the page.

_December, 1979_

_The locket is a horcrux, and now I know the location. I'll have creature help me. I won't survive; this I know. I just hope he will be able to destroy it when I'm gone. Else the lord will never be stopped. _

A/N So another chapter through. Though I have no idea who I'm going to have her paired with yet. For me its either Lucius or Snape but have no idea which yet or if it will be either. Anyway, review and let me know what you think, hopefully I'll have more soon.


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